ASU's offense has been dominant in the first quarter this season.
Through eight games, the Sun Devils have scored on six of their opening drives, five of which have resulted in touchdowns. The Sun Devils have not punted on an opening drive and are averaging 7.13 yards per play in these situations. Only three teams in college football are averaging more than 7 yards per play on any given drive.
The reason behind ASU's success early in games has been scripted plays. In football, it's common for teams to "script" their first 10-15 plays on offense every game. Coaches will effectively plan out their team's first plays in every game depending on down-and-distance.
ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham and first-year offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo are big believers in the script, and for good reason — ASU's offensive dominance on first drives has been a crucial factor for the team's 6-2 record this season.
"I'm big on scripting. It's super important for your guys to know or have a plan for what your top calls are," Dillingham said. "It's really important to get to a good start, to get off to a fast start, and then obviously the ability to go back to those calls if they work."
By planning out plays ahead of time, coaches can ensure they are calling plays the team has ran well in practice. Scripted plays allow offenses to take advantage of favorable matchups, and they can be used to set up a defense later on. Additionally, Arroyo said scripted plays help make offensive players feel more comfortable and prepared early on in games.
However, the goal of scripted plays can change drastically from game to game depending on the opponent.
"Every game, the purpose of your script is a little bit different," Dillingham said. "Is your purpose of the script to not have a negative (play) because this guy is super aggressive in his first drives of the game? Is your purpose of the script to see how they align to certain formations? Is your purpose of the script just to purely score?"
Scripts are also important because they set the tone for the rest of the game. Dillingham and Arroyo have two choices once ASU gets through its first 10 to 15 plays — they can either run the same concepts, or they can switch up their approach to catch the defense off-guard.
If the scripted plays work for ASU, the team will keep running the same plays, according to Dillingham. If the defense adjusts, Dillingham and Arroyo will adjust and call something off of what they've already run.
A great example of the latter came against Cincinnati. One of ASU's scripted plays in the first quarter was a 29-yard run by sophomore Kyson Brown from a 21-personnel grouping, which features two running backs on the field at once. For the rest of the game, Cincinnati's defense was anticipating explosive runs from 21 personnel. Arroyo knew this and ran decoy plays off of that assumption for multiple successful gains.
"Once you get through that script, you've got to anticipate, 'what are the adjustments they'll make?'" Arroyo said. "We're big on making sure that we've got the core answers, the core adjustments, and then the compliments of each one."
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Overall, ASU's success from scripted plays reflects a greater improvement in the offense this year. In 2023, the Sun Devils ranked 124th in team offense. This year they're ranked 42 in the same category. Last season, the ASU offense only scored 1.40 points per drive, which ranked 122 nationally. This season, the Sun Devils are averaging 2.83 points per drive, which ranks 24th nationally.
At this point in the season, it appears ASU's offense is beginning to hit its stride, especially from the perspective of scripted plays.
"Everybody is getting more confident in the plays and just being impactful when you get the opportunity," redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt said. "We're understanding who we are as a team, and are just coming to play for one another."
Edited by Henry Smardo, Sophia Braccio and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporter at jwkartso@asu.edu and follow @kartsonis3 on X.
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Jack is a sophomore studying sports journalism. This is his second semester with The State Press. He has also worked at other student journalism organizations.
